Planning programs, campaigning and advocating on behalf of
students is nothing new to undergraduate student government. But
this year, one councilmember is aiming to redesign student
government itself.
Last winter and spring, Brian Neesby, now a general
representative on the Undergraduate Students Association Council,
attempted to get the senate system approved and installed prior to
last spring’s elections. His efforts to get the proposal to a
referendum vote were unsuccessful at that time, although the
campaign is being revamped and renewed in hopes of getting the
proposal through this year.
USAC, in its current form, is comprised of 13 elected
representatives: three executive members, three general
representatives and seven commissioners. The officers are elected
by a majority vote of undergraduate students.
UCLA is the only school in the University of California system
without a legislative body in its undergraduate student
government.
The senate proposal would create a student government consisting
of 5 executive members, 7 non-voting commissioners and a 20-member
senate. Voting would be done via a complicated system called the
Hare system of proportional representation, which would eliminate
the need for run-off elections.
Under the Hare system, voters would rank candidates for a
position in order of preference, using what is called a single
transferable vote. Any candidate who receives the minimum threshold
of votes (which in the 20-member senate would be 5 percent), is
automatically elected. Future votes for that candidate will be
transferred to the voter’s second choice, and so on until all
seats are filled.
While the voting system is complex, Neesby said he feels it is
the most representative system in existence, and would allow the
preferences of all students to be best reflected in student
government bodies.
“The current system really isn’t fair,” said
Andy Botros, Neesby’s constitutional review director.
“If you have a 55 percent vote for one group, and a 45
percent vote for another group, that way the government should be
representative.”
Botros criticized the current council’s majoritarian
voting system, which allows slates to take a majority of seats and
dominate council affairs when they have the support of only
slightly more than half of voting undergraduates.
“We have a system right now that usually favors kind of a
one-party system; it is not very deliberative in nature. More
diversity in opinion is always better, it allows more voices to be
heard in the room, more people to be involved in student
government,” Neesby said.
The senate system would allow for the viewpoints and opinions to
be voiced and represented in student government, Neesby said. The
proposal is designed to create a better student government for all
UCLA students, not just those who share his goals, he added.
However, opponents of the system cite the common belief that
larger-scale government creates larger-scale inefficiencies.
“When you bring a lot of students into the system a lot of
things get watered out and nothing gets done,” said cultural
affairs commissioner Todd Hawkins. “Creating a separate
system would just complicate things a lot more than they are now in
council.”
Supporters of the senate system freely admit that changing the
structure of undergraduate student government isn’t a simple
task, and certainly hasn’t been in the past.
“It’s going to be hard ““ it’s not going
to be easy to get it passed,” Botros said.
The measure, like all constitution and bylaw changes for the
Undergraduate Students Association, requires a two-thirds vote of
council.
Bruins United, the slate that strongly supports the senate
system and campaigned in part under its auspices, holds council
majority but not supermajority. Councilmembers from the other slate
on council, Student Power!, or political independents would have to
vote in support of the change for it to be approved through
USAC.
However, if the proposal cannot be pushed through council,
Neesby is willing to initiate a second attempt to go directly to
the student body with a referendum vote.
One major point of contention among current councilmembers with
the senate proposal is the depoliticizing of the commissions.
Commissioners are worried about the possibility of losing their
vote, and beyond that, losing control of their own funding, which
would decrease the efficiency of their organizations.
Hawkins fears that depoliticizing the commissions will leave
them “not being able to have our voice heard or being able to
speak up on behalf on the students.”
Commissioners need the power of the vote for them to work most
effectively with the administration, he said.
Neesby said those working on the campaign are looking into the
best way to keep the commissions independent and give them
assurances on the stability and control of their budgets.
“We want the commissions to be an efficacious part of the
government, but depoliticize them,” he said.
Ultimately, the goal of the senate proposal is to get more
democratic representation in student government, without
sacrificing efficiency, Botros said.
“You can’t say no to that, right?”